This blog is not about Judy and I this time. It is about Bluegrass Music, a traditional music form that flourished in the 1940’s. People worry about traditional music genres dying out, replaced by gangster rap, acid rock and other popular forms on the daily hit parade. I am here to tell you that Bluegrass is alive and well here in the southwest United States.
We are in a small town, Wickenburg, Arizona, attending the Four Corner States Bluegrass Festival and Fiddle Championships. Now there were three top bluegrass bands entertaining us, and they were wonderful. The point of my blog, however, is the young contestants in the contests and championships conducted in between the professional bands gigs. These youngsters ranged from ten or so to young adults. There were adults and even seniors sprinkled in too, but I am focusing on the young players.
We were sitting toward one end of the stage in the front row this weekend and I was observing the activity behind the stage. The contestants gathered there while the professionals played. Many nervously tuned and retuned their instruments. Others played through their contest selections. I could tell the difference. One boy I observed instead was quietly playing his mandolin in tempo with the performers on stage. I decided that this boy was going to be one of the top contenders because of what I perceived as confidence and passion for his instrument. I discreetly took his photo.
Sure enough when his turn came on stage he played extremely well and turned in a top performance. The judges selected him as Arizona State Mandolin Champion. I photographed him again accepting his prize. He had some stiff competition and the second and third place contestants had to do a play off to break a tie. Take a look on the web site for photos of Tristan.
We saw the same thing play out over and over again in the fiddle, guitar and banjo championships. Many of these kids play more than one instrument, and well too. Indeed, Bluegrass is alive and well in the southwest. I admit I am biased because I enjoy Bluegrass Music myself, but I worry that we are loosing our music performance cultural heritage because we are becoming simply consumers of prepackaged music played by the select few with big recording contracts.
I hope that this will inspire you all to pick up an instrument and learn to play. Encourage your children and grandchildren to learn an instrument. Get together with friends and passionately play the music that moves you. I believe our world will be better for it.
Now, my apologies to Sophia, whom I introduced last time as a resident of Santa Clara. She assures me that she lives inÂ…”the much more amenable location twixt mountain and sea, the charming town of Santa Cruz.”
And now from frosty Wickenburg where the days are in the 70’s and the nights are in the 30’s we wish you well and hope you all pick up a passion to follow.
Gary and Judy
